The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

The issue of origins has always had the magical power of attracting curiosity and, from that point of view, it attracts even more with respect to the origins of the human being, particularly when considering that it is impossible for any sensible person to literally accept the biblical report, setting it aside as one of those allegories so much typical of the oriental style. In fact, science comes to explain through indisputable means the material impossibility of the formation of the globe in a period of six days of twenty-four hours each. Given the irrefutable facts written in the geological layers, the Church had to yield before the opinion of scholars and agree with them that the six days of creation represent periods of undetermined lengths, as the Church did in former times with respect to the Earth’s rotation. Hence, if the biblical text is susceptible to this kind of interpretation, with respect to that capital point of view, it can also be with respect to others, notably with respect to the time of appearance of the human beings on Earth, about their origin and the meaning that must be given to the qualification of fallen angels.


Since the origin of things is in God’s designs and since it is only revealed to us when God judges it to be adequate, we are limited to conjectures. Many systems have been envisaged to solve that issue and up until now none has completely satisfied this rationale. We will also try to raise a tip of the veil. Will we be more successful than our predecessors? We do not know. It is up to the future to respond. The proposed theory is thus a personal opinion that seems to agree with reason and logic. This is what is going to give that theory a certain degree of likelihood.


To begin with we assert the fact that it is impossible to uncover any piece of truth unless we resource from the Spiritist theory. This theory has already solved a number of issues that were unsolvable up until now, and it is with the support of the guidelines provided by this theory that we will try to go back the course of times.


The literal meaning of certain passages of the sacred books, contradicted by science and rejected by reason, has produced more nonbelievers than one may suppose, given the obstinacy in turning those texts into an article of faith. If a rational interpretation can make them acceptable, it will evidently bring back to the Church those who ran away from it.


Before moving on it is of the essence that we be clear about the meaning of certain words. How many quarrels have been eternalized but for the ambiguity of certain expressions whose meaning were based on individual interpretations! This was demonstrated in The Spirits’ Book about the word soul. Any controversy was promptly eliminated since we clearly stated the meaning that was given to that word.


The word angel is in the same situation. People use it regardless both in the good as well as in the bad sense by saying things like: “the good and the bad angels, the angel of light and the angel of darkness” from which it follows that the word actually means spirit. It is evidently with that meaning that the word must be understood when talking about fallen angels and rebel angels.


According to Spiritism, and in agreement with many theologians on this, the angels are not privileged beings of creation, exempt from the works imposed onto the others as if from a special favor, but Spirits that achieved perfection out of their own merit and efforts. If the angels were created perfect and considering that any rebellion against God is a sign of inferiority the rebellious could not be angels. Spiritism also tells us that the Spirits advance but cannot move backwards since they never lose the acquired skills. Well, a rebellion from the part of perfect Spirits would be a retroaction, since it can only be conceived from the part of imperfect Spirits.


In order to avoid any confusion it seems opportune to spare the word angel to the pure Spirits and call all others just by good and bad Spirits. However, since use has assigned this expression to fallen angels we say that we take it in its generic application. It will be seen that the idea of fallen and rebellion is perfectly admissible in that sense.


We do not know and perhaps will never know the starting point of the human soul. All that we know is that Spirits are created simple and ignorant; that they advance intellectually and morally; that due to the free-will some take the good path and others the wrong one; that once the foot is stuck in the mud it sinks even further; that after a very large number of corporeal existences on Earth and other planets the Spirits purify and approach God.


A point of difficult understanding is the formation of the first living creatures on Earth, each belonging to a given species, from the plant to the human being. The theory given in The Spirits’ Book seems the most rational to us, although it solves the problem in an incomplete and hypothetical way, a problem that we consider insoluble as much to us as to the majority of the Spirits who are not granted access to the origin of things.


When questioned about it, the sages say that they do not know; others less modest pretend to be revealers and dictate things that are the result of their personal ideas, presenting them as the absolute truth. We must carefully analyze the systems brought up by certain Spirits about the beginning of things. To our eyes, what demonstrates the wisdom of those who dictated The Spirits’ Book is their reservation to questions of such a nature. In our opinion the solution of this issue in absolute terms is not a demonstration of wisdom, as done by some who showed no concern with the material impossibilities demonstrated by science and observation. What we say about the appearance of the first human being on Earth refers to the formation of the bodies. Once the body is formed, it is easier to conceive the fact that the spirit will take that body over. Given the bodies our proposal is to examine the state of the Spirits that animate them so that we can possibly define the doctrine of the fallen angels and the lost paradise in a way that is more rational than what has been done so far.


If we do not admit the plurality of the corporeal existences we must admit that the soul is created at the same time as the body since it must be one of the two: either the soul that animates a body has already lived or it has not lived yet. There is no midterm between these two hypotheses. Now the second hypothesis – the one that states that the soul has not lived yet – leads to a number of insoluble problems, such as the diversity of aptitudes and instincts, incompatible with God’s justice; the fate of children who die at an early age; the mentally challenged people, etc., whereas everything is naturally explained by the admission that the soul had already lived and that when it incarnates in a new body it brings along what had been previously acquired. That is how the societies advance gradually; without that how can we explain the existing differences between the current social condition and that from the times of barbarism? If the souls were created at the same time as the bodies the ones that are born today would be absolutely new and primitive as those that were born thousands of years ago. It must be added that there would be no relationship, no connection between them; they would be completely independent from each other. Why then would


God reward the souls of the present more than those created in the past? Why do they understand things better? Why are their instincts more refined and the customs more sophisticated? Why do they have the intuition of certain things that were not learned? We challenge anyone to give the solution to such a gridlock unless one admits that God may have created souls of dissimilar quality, according to the times and places, a proposition that is irreconcilable with the idea of a supreme justice.


Say, on the contrary, that the souls of today have already lived in former lives; that they were barbarian according to their century but that they have advanced; that they bring the summation of skills acquired in their previous existences and that, consequently, the souls of the civilized world were not created perfect but perfected themselves with time and you will therefore have the only plausible explanation for the cause of the social progress.


Those considerations taken from the theory of reincarnation are critical to understanding the facts we will discuss below.


Although the Spirits may incarnate in different worlds, it seems that, in general, they undertake a certain number of migrations on the same planet and in the same environment to better take advantage of the acquired experience; they can only leave such a world to inhabit an inferior one as a result of punishment or a better one as a reward. It follows that the population of the globe is composed of the same Spirits, with small variations, returning on across several epochs until they reach a degree of purification that entails their transfer to more advanced worlds.


According to the teachings given by the superior Spirits such emigrations and immigrations of the Spirits that incarnate on Earth take place from time to time, individually; however, in certain periods they do occur “en masse” forced by great revolutions that disappear with large quantities of those Spirits then replaced by others that constitute a new generation on Earth or on part of the planet.


Jesus said something remarkable that was not understood, like many other passages that were taken literally when he always spoke through images and parables. Announcing great events in the physical and moral world he said: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place”. Well, the generation from Christ’s time has passed for over eighteen centuries and those things did not take place. We must conclude that either Jesus was mistaken, something that is inadmissible, or that his words had a meaning that was misinterpreted.


If we refer, however, to what the Spirits tell us, not only to us but through mediums from all countries, we should be close to the predicted times, an era of social renovation, that is, a time of great emigration of Spirits that inhabit Earth. That God sent them here so that they could improve, leaving them here for the time necessary to their betterment. God allowed them to get to know his laws, first through Moses and then Jesus; God warned them through the prophets; in their successive incarnations they were able to take advantage of those teachings; now the time has come and those who did not take advantage of light, those who violated God’s laws and neglected God’s power, those will leave Earth where from now on they would be misplaced given the moral progress that takes place and to which they would only create embarrassments, as human beings as well as Spirits. The generation that Jesus talked about could not be understood as the generation of people that lived in his time, physically speaking, but as the generation of Spirits that lived several periods of their reincarnations on Earth and that will leave it. They shall be replaced by a new generation of more morally advanced Spirits who will establish among them the kingdom of love and charity taught by Christ and whose harmony shall not be disturbed by the contact with the bad ones, the proud, the selfish, the ambitious and impious.


According to the Spirits it really seems that among the children that are born now there are many reincarnations of Spirits of that generation. As for those of the previous generation that have merit but who, despite the odds, have not achieved a sufficient level of purification to move to more advanced worlds, these will be able to continue to inhabit Earth and go through a few incarnations. However, instead of punishment this shall be a reward since they will be happier and in constant progress here. The time for the disappearance of a generation and the appearance of a new one may be considered as the end of the world that is the moral world.


What will become of the Spirits that will be expelled from Earth? The Spirits themselves tell us that they will inhabit new worlds where they will find creatures even more underdeveloped than here to which they will have the mission of progress, transferring to them their acquired knowledge. The contact with a barbarian environment will be a cruel atonement to them and a source of permanent physical and moral suffering, becoming the more aware of such condition the more developed their intelligence. Such atonement, however, will be simultaneously a mission that will offer them the means of mending their past; according to the way they accomplish it. They will live a series of reincarnations there during a more or less lengthy time period, after which those who deserve it will move on to better worlds, perhaps even Earth that shall then be a resort of happiness and peace, while those from Earth will gradually move on up to the state of angels or pure Spirits.


That will take too long, some will say. Wouldn’t it be better to move from Earth to Heavens at once? There is no doubt but with such a system you also have the alternative of moving, also en masse, from Earth to Hell for the whole of eternity. Now, you must agree that down here the sum of virtues necessary to go straight from Earth to Heavens is very rare and only a few people would have the certainty of holding them. The result is that it is more likely to go to hell than paradise. Isn’t that more valuable to walk a longer path but with the certainty of achieving the objective? Given the current condition of Earth nobody is concerned with returning here but there is no obligation for that since it depends on each individual to advance in such a way while living here that a promotion may be granted. No prisoner expects to return to the cell after leaving jail and it is easy to do that. All that is required is that one does not fail again. The soldier would also find it very convenient to suddenly become a general but that has to be earned.


Let us return to the course of times and from the present, as a known starting point, let us try at least by analogy to deduce the unknown, although without the certainty of a mathematical demonstration.


The issue of Adam as the only branch of the human race on Earth is knowingly very controversial, because the Laws of Anthropology demonstrate its impossibility, not to mention the authentic documents about the Chinese history proving that the population of our globe goes back to a time much earlier than that of the biblical chronology of Adam. Is the story of Adam a fictitious tale then? It is not likely. It is an image that like all other allegories must contain a great truth whose key will only be produced by Spiritism. The central question, as we see it, is not about the fact if Adam has actually lived or what was the time when that happened but if the human race, identified as Adam’s descendent, is a decayed race. The solution to this issue is not empty of moral content since it can guide our behavior towards the future by enlightening us about our past.


Let us observe, for starters, that the idea of a fallen human race is senseless when separated from that of reincarnation in the same way that one would carry the responsibility for the actions one’s first father. If the soul of a person is created at the time of birth it means that the soul did not exist prior to that. Thus, it must not keep any direct or indirect relationship with the soul that made the first mistake. Then there is the follow up question: how could the soul be responsible for that? Doubt about such a point naturally leads to doubt and even disbelief about many others considering that if the starting point is false then the consequences are also false. That is the reasoning of many people. Well, such reasoning will fall if we consider the meaning of the biblical texts and not literally, and if we refer to the principles of Spiritism that is destined to revive the dying faith, as it was said before.


Let us observe still that the idea of rebel angels, fallen angels and lost paradise is found in almost every religion and is part of the tradition of almost all peoples. Hence, it must be founded on a truth. In order to understand the true meaning given to the expression fallen angels it is not necessary to imagine a real struggle between God and the angels or Spirits, considering that the word angel here is used in its generic meaning.


Admitting that human beings are incarnate Spirits, it stand to reason that the materialistic and atheists are no other than revolted angels or Spirits. These beings are these fallen angels as they are against the Divinity, deny God’s existence, and do not acknowledge God’s power or God’s laws. Isn’t it out of pride that they pretend that everything comes from them and not God? Isn’t it extreme rebellion to preach the nothingness after death? Aren’t they as much to blame for the utilization of their intelligence, something that they swagger about, to drag their fellow human beings to the precipice of disbelief? Isn’t that, up to a certain extent, an act of rebellion to neglect the true attributes of God’s essence, without denying it? Those who cover their bad actions with the mask of pity? Those who, in the name of peace, violate the first of God’s laws: that of charity? Those who sow disturbance and hatred by slander and calumny? Finally, those whose voluntarily useless lives flow down the drain of idleness, without any benefit to them or to others? Everyone will have to report not only their bad deeds but also a good deed that was not done. Well, all those Spirits that have made bad use of their incarnations, once expelled from Earth and sent to inferior worlds among peoples still in the infancy of barbarism, what will they be if not fallen angels that were sent for their expiation? Isn’t Earth to them a lost paradise, comparatively to the inhospitable environment where they shall be exiled for thousands of centuries, up until the day when they deserve their freedom?


If we now go back to the origin of the current race symbolized by Adam we find every character of a generation of Spirits expelled from another world for similar reasons, exiled on the already populated Earth but by primitive, barbarian and ignorant peoples, with the mission of helping their progress by bringing to this world the lights of an already developed intelligence. Isn’t that the role actually played by the so-called Adamic race so far? By relegating it to this world of work and suffering wouldn’t it give God reason to say: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food”? If that race deserved such a punishment for reasons like those that we see today, wouldn’t it be fair to say that it was lost by pride? Couldn’t God out of benevolence promise to send them a redeemer, that is, the one that should illuminate the path leading them to the happiness of the elected one? That savior was sent as Jesus who taught the law of love and charity as the true anchor of salvation.


Here there is an important point for consideration. Jesus’ mission is easily understood by admitting that it refers to the same Spirits who lived before and after his appearance thus taking advantage of his teachings or of the merit of his sacrifice; without the reincarnation, however, it is more difficult to understand the utility of that same sacrifice for the benefit of Spirits that were created after his appearance and in that case God would have created Spirits stained by faults of others with whom they never had any relationship.


That race of Spirits seems to have done its time on Earth. Some of them took advantage of that time and advanced and hence deserved their rewards; others, given their obstinacy in keeping their eyes closed to light, drained God’s benevolence and deserved punishment. Thus these words of Jesus will be accomplished: “The good ones shall be on my right, the bad ones on my left”.


A fact that seems to confirm the theory about the preexistence of the first inhabitants of that race on Earth is this: Adam, considered as the main branch, is represented as a person with a high level of intellectual development, higher even to the present savage races; his first descendants also demonstrated skills on very advanced level.


Now, from what we know about the condition of the Spirits in their origin, what would Adam be from an intellectual point of view if his soul had created at the same time as his body. Admitting, by exception, that God had given him a more perfected soul one still needs to explain why the savages of New Zealand, for example, are infinitely behind their common father, considering that they came out of the same branch.


Everything indicates, on the contrary, that from a physical and a moral stand point they belong to another race of Spirits, closer to their origin, and that they still need a large number of corporeal migrations before they even get to the least advanced levels of the Adamic race. The new race that will surge will speed up their advancement by the rule of Christ’s law everywhere, which is the law of justice, love and charity.


The authors of works on Earth’s anthropology concentrated their attention particularly on physical characters; the spiritual element was almost always neglected and authors who do not admit anything outside matter invariably deny it. When the spiritual element is taken into account by science it will shed a new light upon a number of still obscure issues because that element is one of the living forces of nature playing a fundamental role both in the physical and moral phenomena.


Let us see in a summarized form an example of an analogy that happens at a larger scale in the world of the Spirits. This example will help us to understand it.


On May 24^th, 1861 the frigate Iphigénie disembarked with a company formed by 291 men at the port of New Caledonia. At their arrival the commander in chief gave the following order of the day:


“On disembarking on this far away land you have already realized your role. Following the example of our brave mariners whose service you see, you will help us to shine the light of civilization upon the savages of New Caledonia. I ask you this: isn’t that a noble mission? You will accomplish that with dignity. Listen to the voice and advices of your superiors. I am before them. Make no mistake about these words. The choice of your commander, your officers, your sub-officers and corporals is an assurance of the efforts that will be employed in order to turn you into excellent soldiers; I say even more, to raise you to the condition of good citizens, transforming you into dignified settlers, if you so wish. The discipline imposed on you is strict and it must be so. It will come firm and inflexible to your hands but also fair and fraternal, knowing how to distinguish a mistake from vice and degradation…”


Here we have men who were expelled from a civilized country for their bad behavior and sent to a savage environment as their punishment. What did their commander say? “You breached your parents’ laws; you were cause of scandal and turmoil and you were expelled from there. You were sent here. However, you can make up for your past; you can conquer an honored position here through work and then become honest citizens. You have a beautiful mission to accomplish here and that is to bring civilization to these savage tribes. Discipline will be severe but fair and we will know how to distinguish the good behavior.”


Isn’t homeland a lost paradise to those relegated to the heart of savagery for their guilt and rebellion against the law? Aren’t they fallen angels in the far away land? Isn’t the language of their commander the same used by God to the Spirits exiled on Earth?


“You disobeyed my laws. That is why I sent you away from the land where you could live happily and in peace. You will be forced to work here. However, through your behavior you may conquer forgiveness and return to the land that you lost for your own fault – Heavens.”


The first impression is that the idea of a fall seems to be in contradiction with the principle that the Spirits cannot regress. It is necessary to take into account; however, that it is not about a return to the primitive state. The fact that the spirit is in an inferior position does not follow that the spirit has lost everything that had been acquired before. The moral and intellectual development remains the same regardless of the environment where the spirit is located. It is like a common person that was condemned to the galleys for her crimes. That person has certainly fallen from the point of view of her social position but that has not made her more stupid or more ignorant.


Should we suppose that those people sent to the New Caledonia will suddenly become role models of virtue? That they will promptly renounce their past mistakes? One would need to ignore humanity in order to admit that. For the same reason the Spirits that will be expelled from Earth will not suddenly eliminate their pride and bad instincts as soon as they are installed in their new worlds of exile. They shall keep their original tendencies for a long time, the remains of the old yeast. The same must have happened to the Spirits of the Adamic race that were exiled on Earth. Isn’t that the original sin? The stain that is brought by birth is that of the guilty and punished Spirits, stain that can be removed by repentance, atonement and renovation of their moral character.


The original sin is senseless when considered as the responsibility for someone else’s fault and it is the denial of God’s justice. Considered, as the consequence and remains, the initial imperfection of an individual. This imperfection is not only admitted by reason but also totally fair given the responsibility derived from that imperfection.


Such interpretation gives an absolutely natural explanation to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, so much mocked by skepticism. That dogma established that Jesus’ mother was not stained by the original sin. How can that be? Very simple: God sent a pure spirit that did not belong to the guilty and exiled race to incarnate on Earth and carry out her dignified mission, in the same way that from time to time God sends superior Spirits to boost and accelerate progress. Such Spirits are like the venerable pastor that visits the prisons to moralize their residents, showing them the path to salvation.


Some people will certainly find this not aligned to an orthodox interpretation. Some will even call it heresy. However, isn’t it so that many people see the report found in Genesis, the story of the apple and Adam’s rib, as symbolic, simple images? And because they are unable to find a suitable meaning to the doctrine of the fallen angels, of the rebellious angels and the lost paradise, they consider all that as fables? If a logical interpretation can show them a truth hidden by an allegory, isn’t that better than absolute denial?

Let us admit that such interpretation is not in agreement with the strictest orthodoxy from all points of view, using the vulgar meaning of the phase: we then ask if it is not preferable to believe in something than in absolutely nothing. If the belief in the literal text keeps people away from God and if the belief given the interpretation take people closer to God isn’t the latter better than the other one? Hence, we are not here to destroy the principle, uprooting it like some philosophers did. We try to unveil its occult meaning and much to the contrary we came to consolidate it, giving it a rational foundation. However it may be one cannot deny the fact that this interpretation has a grandiose character that in reality is missing in the literal text. This theory simultaneously encompasses the universality of the worlds, the infinite in the past and future; gives everything a reason for being by the interconnections of all things, by the solidarity that it establishes among all parts of the universe. Isn’t that more in agreement with the idea that we make of God’s majesty and goodness than the one that circumscribes humanity to a point in space and an instant in eternity?

The issue of publicity of the Spiritist communications is the complement to the general organization that was discussed in our previous issue. While the Spiritist circle grows, the number of mediums increase and with that the number of communications. For some time now those communications have shown a remarkable development with respect to the style, ideas and scope of the subjects that are discussed. The growth follows the very development of the science and the Spirits gauge the elevation of their teachings based on the development of the ideas. That happens in the local provinces, abroad and in Paris, as demonstrated by some examples that we receive and publish in the Review.


The Spirits aim with the general instruction and propagation of the principles of the Doctrine by giving those communications is to spread the message as opposed to keeping it hidden... Another important advantage is to demonstrate the ability of spontaneous teaching from the Spirits concerning all fundamental points and the neutralization of the influence of wrong methodologies, proving their isolation.


It is therefore necessary to examine the means of publicity that can best achieve that objective and for that reason there are two points to be taken into account: the media that offers the best reach to the publicity and the most adequate conditions to produce a favorable impression on the reader, given a judicious choice of subject matter and the presentation itself. The best works are sometimes dead on arrival for not taking into account certain and perhaps simply formal details. This observation results from experience. Certain editors are skilled with that respect, developing a feeling for the taste of the general public, something that allows them to promptly assess the chances of success of a given publication, regardless of its intrinsic merit.


The development taken by the Spiritist communications makes it virtually impossible to include all of them in the Review. The incorporation of everything would force the Review to grow that would make it unaffordable by many people. Hence there is the need to find the means of offering it to everybody in the best possible condition. For starters let us examine the pros and cons of the several means that could be employed.


1^st – Local periodical publications. These pose two inconveniences. First, that of being almost always limited to the region; second is the fact that a periodical must be offered on pre- established dates, requiring administrative controls and regular expenses that must somehow be covered or pay the price of interruption. If the great media that reaches the public in general sometimes has difficulties to survive that would be even more justifiably true in the case of a publication that addresses a limited public since it would be impractical to count on many external subscribers, particularly if the publications grew in number.


2^nd – Local non-periodical publications. A society, a group or some groups of the same town could gather their communications in independent brochures, like it was done in Metz, publishing them on undetermined dates. From a financial point of view this method is preferable to the preceding one since one can stop its publication at any time. However, there is always the issue of restriction in the publicity. There would be the need to cover for the costs of ads to spread before those costs, or there should be the need for a central book store with many representatives in charge of that but then there is another difficulty that comes out of that. Booksellers in general do not have a lot of good will with books that were not edited by them; besides, they do not want to load their representatives with publications of lesser importance to them or of uncertain acceptance, sometimes carried out in bad commercial condition given their format and price, forcing them to cover for the costs of returns in addition to discounts. These are considerations ignored by most authors who do not understand the business of book selling, letting alone the matter that some writers are surprised by the fact of not finding any editor interested in their works that they consider excellent. Even the authors who cover the costs of having their works published must remember that regardless of the advantages offered to the booksellers the work must please the public if in terms of the business they are not negotiable.


Our apologies to our readers for getting into so much material aspects on talking about spiritual works but it is precisely in the interest of propagation of good things that we want to forearm against the illusions of inexperience.


3rd – Individual publications of the mediums. Every consideration above is naturally applicable to the isolated publications that certain mediums could produce with the communications they receive. However, in addition to the fact that the majority of those mediums cannot do that there is another inconvenience: these, in general, have a trait of uniformity that make them dull, thus diminishing their appeal the more they were produced. They would only be attractive when treating a given subject, encompassing that subject as a whole, be it from a single or from several Spirits.


Such considerations are not absolute and there will certainly be exceptions. One must agree though that they rest on some foundation of truth. As a matter of fact what was said above does not aim at imposing our opinion that each person may consider or neglect. Fact is that since we all publish with the intention of achieving a result, we feel that it is our duty to expose the causes of deception.


The inconveniences that we have just mentioned above seem completely overcome by a central and collective publication that Mr. Didier & Co. is about to issue under the title ‘Bibliothèque du monde invisible’. It will encompass a series of large volumes (18 in) with about 250 pages, by a fixed price of 2 francs. Each volume will be numbered and sold separately so that those interested may acquire the number of their choice without the need to purchase others of no interest. That collection without fixed limits will offer an opportunity for the publication of mediumistic works from the several centers with the advantage of a very ample publicity through the correspondents. Something that this editor cannot do through isolated brochures can be done through a collection that may prove very important.


The name ‘Library of the Invisible World’ is the general title of the collection. Each volume might have a special title to indicate the subject and the origin and will benefit the author without the need that each author get involved with areas they are not as familiar. It is a collective publication but without solidarity among the producers and where each one participates on their own risk subjected to the chances of merit of their work, but enjoying a common publicity.


It is not the intention of the editor to publish everything that is sent to them. On the contrary, they express their freedom with a strict selection. The works that have been published under the sponsorship of their authors may take part in the collection, provided that they are accepted and obey the conditions of format and price.


We personally have no connection with that publication and its administration and that has nothing in common with The Spiritist Review or with the other specialized works about this matter. We give it our blessings and our moral support because we believe it to be useful and the best open avenue of publication to the mediums, groups and societies. We shall contribute with that work as anyone else and only taking responsibility for the material that carries our name.


Besides the special works that we can offer to that collection we will give it a few volumes composed of select communications under the title ‘Portefeuille spirite’, out of some communications obtained in our meetings in Paris and some from those sent to us by mediums and groups in France and abroad that correspond with us and do not want to move on with individual publications. These communications will have the attractiveness of the variety since they come from different sources. According to the circumstances we will add the observations necessary to their understanding and development. Special attention will be given to the order, classification and the table of matter.


Since we do not aim at any personal profit from those publications our intention is to revert the proceeds that are our own right to the free distribution of our works about Spiritism to those who cannot afford to purchase the books or any other application found useful to the propagation of Spiritism, according to the established conditions.


Such a plan seems to attend the requirements and we have no doubt that it will be well received by every sincere friend of Spiritism.

The organization we proposed for the formation of Spiritist groups aims at preparing the avenue that must facilitate their mutual relationships. Among the resulting advantages is the unity of Spiritism as the most relevant and its natural consequence. That unity is already partially accomplished and is the fundamental bases of Spiritism. A large majority of the followers now follow these principles. Nonetheless there are still some doubtful questions. The reason may be that these principles have not yet been resolved or because they were done so in different ways by people or even by the Spirits.


If sometimes the methodologies are produced by human minds, we know that certain Spirits do not fall behind. In reality there are some that elaborate absurd ideas with a marvelous skill, interweaving them with a lot of art, and building something that is more imaginary than real. This can mislead the opinion of individuals who do not make the effort to investigate or who are unable to do so given their lack of knowledge. The false ideas, no doubt, end up breaking up as a result of direct experience and logic. Prior to that, however, such ideas can produce uncertainty.


We also know that the Spirits may have a more or less accurate way of seeing things, according to their elevation; that the signatures following the communications are not always a guarantee of authenticity and that arrogant Spirits sometimes preach utopias under the cover and embellishment of respectable names. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest difficulties of the practical science against which many people have crashed.


In case of divergence the best criterion is the agreement of the teachings from different Spirits, transmitted through different mediums and that are strange to one another. When the same principle is proclaimed or condemned by the majority we must surrender to the evidence. If there is a means of getting to the truth it is certainly through the agreement as much as the rationality of the communications, added to the means that we have to attest the superiority or inferiority of the Spirits. Since the opinion is no longer individual and becomes collective it acquires a higher degree of authenticity for it cannot be considered as the result of a personal or local influence. The doubtful ones will find a basis to support their ideas because it would be irrational to believe that someone that sustains an isolated point of view is right against everybody else.


What has fundamentally contributed to give credit to the doctrine of The Spirits’ Book was precisely the fact that it finds support everywhere given the fact that it results from a similar work. Like we said, it is neither the works of a single spirit who could be systematic nor the works of a single medium that could be deceived. It is, on the contrary, the result of a collective teaching provided by a large diversity of Spirits and mediums and whose principles are more or less confirmed all over the world. We say more or less for the reason that as we said above there are Spirits who try to make their personal ideas prevail. Therefore it is useful to submit divergent ideas to the proposed control. If Spiritism or any doctrinaire point that we profess was unanimously recognized to be wrong, we would submit to that without complaints, feeling happy for the fact that others found the truth. If, however, those points are confirmed we should be allowed to believe that we are with the truth.


The Spiritist Society of Paris will submit questions considered to be more useful to the propagation of truth to the several corresponding centers, understanding the importance of similar work and having to enlighten itself in the first place, demonstrating that by no means it wants to stand out as an absolute judge of the professed doctrines. Those questions will be submitted via private correspondence or through The Spiritist Review, according to the circumstances.


It is clear to the Society, and given the seriousness with which it faces Spiritism, that the authority of the communications depend on the conditions in which the meetings take place, the character of the members and their objective. Provided that the communications are originated from groups formed on the basis indicated in our article about the organization of Spiritism, to the eyes of the Society the better the conditions of those groups the more weight they will have.


While waiting for the question e, we submit the following ones to our corresponding groups.

There are two methodologies about the origin and formation of Earth. The most common opinion, generally adopted by science, is that Earth is the product of the gradual condensation of cosmic matter in a specific region of space. The same happens to other planets. According to the other methodology, more recently preconized according to the revelation of one spirit, Earth was formed by the incrustation of four satellites of a former planet that disappeared. Such a junction would have been the result of the will of the souls of those planets. A fifth satellite, the Moon, would have refused such association, given its free will. The voids that were formed due to the absence of the Moon would have created cavities that were filled up by the oceans. Each of those planets would have brought their typical beings in a cataleptic state: humans, animals and plants. After the joining and an equilibrium was reached, those creatures left their lethargic state and populated the globe. That would have been the origin of the primitive races on the planet: the black race in Africa, the yellow in Asia, the red in the Americas and the white in Europe.


Which of these two methodologies may be considered as an expression of truth? We request a thoughtful and explicit solution to this issue as to the others.


NOTE: This and other related questions are naturally marginal from a moral point of view that is the essential objective of Spiritism. Therefore there is no reason to take them as object of continual concern. As a matter of fact we are aware that the Spirits do not know everything about the origin of things and that they only say what they know or believe to know. However, since the divergence of systems could lead some people to see rupture in the unity of Spiritism, particularly because those systems were formulated by the Spirits, it is convenient to compare the pros and cons in the interest of Spiritism itself, supporting the judgment of worth of certain communications on the agreement of the majority.

The proposition below was taken from a brochure under the title Summary of the Harmonic Religion.


“God created man, woman and all the best and most beautiful creatures. The souls of the globes, however, were given the power of creation of inferior creatures to complete the works through the combination of their own prolific fluid known in our planet by the name of aurora boreal and through the combination of this fluid with that of the other globes. Now, the soul of the terrestrial globe, like human souls, enjoys the free will, that is the freedom of choice between the good and the bad path, having chosen the latter. Hence the bad and imperfect creations such as the ferocious and venous animals and the plants that produce poisons. But humanity will make those nasty creatures disappear when in agreement with the soul of Earth, then walking together the good path, managing the planet in a more intelligent way, rendering the creation of a more perfect population.”

Is there any truth in such a proposition? How can one understand the soul of Earth?

The following passage was extracted from the same book as above under the title “The Key of Life”, page 751:


“The soul has a luminous divine nature. It has the shape of the human being that it animates. It resides at the median cerebral region that connects the two lobes of the brain on its basis. In the harmonious man and in unity the soul, a radiant diamond, is ornamented by a white and luminous crown. It is the crown of harmony.”


What is true about that proposition?

In the same book:

“The Spirits are obliged to reincarnate to achieve progress, while inhabiting the planets. As long as they achieve solar regions they no longer need the reincarnation, thus progressing by inhabiting suns of superior order from where they move on to celestial regions. The Milky Way whose light is so smooth is the dwelling of the angels or superior Spirits.”

Is that true?

According to the doctrine taught by one spirit, “no human spirit can manifest or communicate with people or serve as an intermediary between God and humanity since God is Almighty and is everywhere God does not need auxiliaries for the execution of His orders and God does everything on His own. In the so called Spiritist communications it is only God that manifests, taking the human form of the evoked Spirits in the apparitions and their language in the written communications, Spirits with whom we believe to communicate. Hence, since the person is dead there cannot be any relationship with those left behind on Earth before a given level of advancement in the spiritual world is achieved through the several successive reincarnations. Since only God can manifest the rude and trivial communications, the blasphemies and lies are equally produced by God but as a test, in the same way that God does with the good ones, with the objective of instructing.”


Naturally the spirit that dictated the message above says that he is God himself. Based on that he formulated an extensive philosophical, social and religious doctrine.


What should one think about such a system, its consequences and the nature of the spirit that teaches it?

In our last issue we published the eloquent and remarkable chapter written by Mr. Guizot regarding the supernatural and about which we wanted to make a few critical observations that in no way diminish our admiration for the renowned author.


Mr. Guizot believes in the supernatural. We need to be clear about the meaning of the words about this as well as many other points. In its literal sense supernatural means what is above nature, outside of the laws of nature. The supernatural per se is not submitted to the laws; it is an exception, a derogation of the laws that govern Creation. In one word, it is the synonym of miracle.


Those two words are used in figurative language, designating everything that is extraordinary, wonderful, and uncommon. Something that causes admiration is said to be miraculous, like something that has a great extension is said to be incommensurable; of a large number as incalculable; or even a long duration that is eternal, although and strictly speaking they can be measured, calculated and temporary as for the last one. For the same reason people qualify as supernatural everything that seems to be beyond the limits of the possible, at first sight. Those who do not understand it always commonly take the word on its literal meaning. If the word is used to describe everything whose causes are unknown, it is fine; however, in that case the word no longer has a precise meaning because something that was supernatural in the past it is no more today. How many things that were formerly considered supernatural hasn’t science brought to the domain of natural laws?


Despite the progress that has been realized can we boast about knowing God’s secrets? Has nature given us the last word about everything? Do not we have such proud pretension belied every day? Thus, if something that was supernatural in past is no longer today we can logically infer that something that is supernatural today will no longer be tomorrow. As for ourselves, we take the word supernatural in its amplest meaning, that is, to designate every phenomenon contrary to the laws of nature. The character of a supernatural or miraculous fact is the exception. As long as it repeats it is submitted to a known or unknown law and belongs to the general order.


If nature is restricted to the visible material world it is obvious that things of the invisible world are supernatural. However, since the invisible world is also submitted to the laws it seems logical to us that nature be defined as the comprehensive works of creations that comply with the immutable Laws of Divinity. If the invisible world is one of the forces of nature, as demonstrated by Spiritism, one of the powers that act upon matter, it represents an important role in nature. For that very reason to us the Spiritist phenomena are neither supernatural nor wonderful or miraculous. It follows that far from expanding the circle of the supernatural Spiritism tends to restrict it and make it disappear.


We said that Mr. Guizot believes in the supernatural but in its miraculous sense and that by no means leads to a belief in the Spirits and their manifestations. Now, since the Spiritist phenomena have nothing of abnormal to us, it does not follow that God does not breach His own laws in certain cases, considering that He is Almighty. Would God have done so? This is not the place to analyze

the issue. In order to do that, we would have to discuss each individual case instead of discussing the principle. Positioning ourselves at the same stand point as Mr. Guizot, that is the reality of miraculous facts, we will try to combat the consequence that he derives about the impossibility of religion without the supernatural and, on the contrary, demonstrate that the annihilation of religion is the consequence of his system.


Mr. Guizot starts from the principle that every religion is founded on the supernatural. That is correct if we see as supernatural anything that is not understood. If, however, we investigate the status of human knowledge at the time of foundation of each known religion, we will see how limited it was in Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Physiology, etc.


If a good number of known and already explained phenomena are called marvelous in our modern times with even more reason the same should have happened in former times. Besides, a figurative, symbolic and allegoric language typically used by all peoples in the Orient naturally facilitated fiction whose true meaning was not uncovered by ignorance.


We must still add that the founders of the religions, superior minds that stuck out from the crowds, knew better and had to resource to a super-human prestige to impress the masses, while certain ambitious persons exploited credulity. See Numa Pompilius, Mohamed and so many others! Imposters, you may say. Be it.


Let us look at the religions that stem out of Moses. They all adopt creation according to Genesis. Well, is there anything more supernatural than that formation of Earth, taken out of nothing and coming out of the chaos, populated by every living creature, plants and animals, all formed and adults, and all that in six days of twenty-four hours, as if from a swing of the magic wand? Isn’t that a breach of the natural laws that govern matter and the progression of the beings? God could have certainly done that. But has He? Only a few years back this was stated as an article of faith and there you have science taking the magnificent fact of the origin of the world to the order of natural facts, demonstrating that it all happened according to eternal laws. Has religion been harmed for no longer having a marvelous fact in its foundation? It would undoubtedly have damaged its credit if adamant in denying the evidence, whereas it benefit by accepting the general order of things.


A much less important fact, despite the persecution that it produced, is that of Joshua stopping the Sun to extend the day for two hours. It doesn’t matter if it was the Sun that stopped or Earth. The fact is still supernatural. It is the breach of a fundamental law that interconnects the globes.


Some saw a way out in the recognition that it was Earth that turned but they did not take into account Newton’s apple, the celestial dynamics of Laplace and the law of gravitation. If the motion of Earth is suspended not for two hours but for a few minutes it will interrupt the centrifugal force and Earth shall precipitate against the Sun. The equilibrium of the oceans on the surface of Earth is maintained by the continuity of the motion. If the motion stops it is total destruction. Now, the history of the world does not indicate any cataclysm over that time. We do not contest the fact that God may have favored Joshua by extending the clarity of the day. How? We do not know. It could have been the aurora boreal, a meteor or any other phenomenon that would not have altered the natural order of things. It is unquestionable, however, that it was not the one that for centuries was considered to be an article of faith. It is very natural that it was believed so in the past but today it is impossible unless science is denied.


Some will say that religion is based on many other events that are neither explained nor explicable. Unexplained, yes, inexplicable is another issue. Do we know what future reserves in terms of knowledge and discovery? Do not we already see phenomena of ecstasy, visions, apparitions, remote visions, instantaneous cures, transportation, verbal communications and others with the beings of the invisible world, under the umbrella of magnetism, somnambulism and Spiritism, phenomena that were known since immemorial times, then considered marvelous and today demonstrated to belong to the natural order of things, according to the law of formation of the creatures?


The sacred books have plenty of facts classified as supernatural. However, since we find them and even more marvelous in all pagan religions of antiquity, if the truth of a given religion depended on the number and nature of such facts we would not know which one of them would be true.


Mr. Guizot cites the formation of the first man as a proof of the supernatural, a man that was created adult because, and according to Mr. Guizot, alone and in his infancy he could not have been able to feed himself but if could made an exception by creating him adult couldn’t God have made another one by giving the boy the means of survival and that without moving away from the established order? Since the animals were here prior to humankind wouldn’t that be possible to turn the legend of Romulus and Remus a reality with respect to the first boy?


We say the first boy when in fact we should say the first children since the issue of a unique branch to humankind is controversial. In fact the laws of Anthropology demonstrate the material impossibility that the posterity of a single man could have inhabited the whole world in just a few centuries, yielding the black, yellow and red races, since it has been well established that those differences are due to the organic structure rather than to the climate.


Mr. Guizot suggests a dangerous thesis when stating that not a single religion is possible without the supernatural. If he places the truths of Christianity on the basis of the marvelous only he gives it a fragile support whose stones fall apart every day. We give them a more solid foundation: the immutable laws of God. Such foundation defies time and science for time and science will sanction them.


Mr. Guizot’s thesis thus leads to the conclusion that at some point in time there will no longer be a religion that is possible, not even the Christian religion, if one can demonstrate that something considered supernatural is actually natural. Was it that he wanted to demonstrate? No. But that is the consequence of his argumentation. We move fast in that direction since, regardless of what we do, however much we add in thought, there will not be the belief that a fact is supernatural when it has been demonstrated that it is not.


We are less skeptical than Mr. Guizot with that respect and say that God is no less worth of our admiration, acknowledgement, and respect for not having breached His own laws, actually great for their immutability; that there is no need for the supernatural to worship God accordingly, and consequently to have a religion that will find the less non-believers the more it is sanctioned by reason in all points.


In our opinion Christianity has nothing to lose with that sanction but, on the contrary, to benefit. If something has done harm to Christianity in the opinion of many it was precisely the abuse of the marvelous and supernatural. Make people see the greatness and power of God everywhere in creation; show them the wisdom and the remarkable providence from the germination of the tiniest plant to the mechanism of the universe and the wonders will be many! Replace in their spirit the idea of an envious, enraged, vindictive and merciless God by that of sovereignly just, good and merciful God that does not condemn people to eternal and hopeless sufferings for their temporary faults.


Have them fed by such ideas since their infancy and such ideas will grow with reason and you will make many more firm and sincere believers than if they were cradled by allegories that are literally imposed on them and later repelled, leading them to doubt and deny everything. If you want to maintain religion by the single path of the illusion of the wonderful there will only be one way: by keeping humanity ignorant. See if that is possible. Through an excessive zeal in only showing God in the prodigies and exceptions we do not show Him in the wonders before our eyes.


They will certainly take an issue with the birth of Christ that could not be explained by natural laws and that it is one of the most remarkable demonstrations of his divine character. This is not the place to examine the subject. However and, once again, we do not deny God from the power of breaching His own laws. What we contest is the absolute necessity of doing so for the establishment of any given religion.


Some will say that Magnetism and Spiritism, by reproducing the phenomena considered miraculous, are contrary to the current religion since they tend to remove the supernatural character of those facts. Nonetheless, what can one do if those facts are true? They cannot be denied since they are not the privilege of a single person and replicate all over the world. Something similar could be said of Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology and all sciences. We say that the skepticism of many people has no other source but the impossibility to them of such exceptional facts. By denying the foundations that support those facts they deny everything else. They shall be forced to believe once the possibility and the reality of those facts are reproduced before their eyes.

- Do you then prefer that people believe in nothing to believe in something? Is that the only way of demonstrating the divinity of Christ’s mission? Isn’t his character a hundred times more in evidence from the sublimity of his teachings and the example he gave of his virtues? If his character cannot be seen but from the material acts of his practice, haven’t others done the same like his contemporary Apollonius of Tyana? Why has Jesus outperformed him? The reason is that he made a miracle that is much more than the transformation of water into wine; feeding four thousand people with five breads; healing the epileptic; making the blind see and the paralytic walk. The miracle is that of having changed the face of the world; it is the revolution carried out by a man that came from a barn, during a three-year preaching period and without writing anything, just helped by a few obscure and ignorant fishermen. That is the true prodigy and that one needs to be blind nd of God. Have such a truth deeply accepted and that is the best way of converting people into strong believers.

I


Dear son of a beloved land, The vision of you always at hand,

There were many skies and a regenerated soul, Beauty, youth and love I found, though.

The apex of life is finally my shore, Eternal world where we all reborn. Poor spirit from this other land

Still trying another song through your hand.


II


I saw this pale goddess arriving, Her simple name is so touching. I only saw kindness in her eyes

We then shook hands, I was fearless. I fell asleep and my new friendly

Soul caressed my farewell with sounds, gently.

And poor spirit from this other land Still trying another song through your hand.


III


Go in peace, lie down on the grave

Oh happy deceased, no worries on your wake Your closed eyes are the fallen curtains

That before a more radiant Sun will open again!

Thus, smile! By death you are invited To the feasts of brilliant harvests. And poor spirit from this other land

Still trying another song through your hand.


IV


The giants of glory are downed: Slaves and kings, they shall all be confused

Since to all of us victory is the greatest To the one who can love the most!

In that land we see what our love claims Or the grief that on Earth remains.

And poor spirit from this other land Still trying another song through your hand.


V

Good-bye, friends. I am back to the spaces

That can always be bridged by invitation, at your discretion.

The infinity always surrounding us And where you shall be soon walking.

Yes, happily and renovated

We shall together have my lessons recounted.

And poor spirit from this other land Still trying another song through your hand.

Béranger

NOTE: The President of the Spiritist Society of Mexico was visiting Paris and entrusted us with a series of communications from that Society, authorizing us to choose those that were considered of greatest utility for publication. We believe that our readers will not regret our initial choice. They will see the number of nice communications that are given all over the st add that the lady who has received the poems above has no background in poetry.

The brochure that was announced with above title in our last number will be issued on January 15^th but instead of the indicated price of 25 cents per individual volume it will be sold by 15 cents per volume or 10 cents per volume with the purchasing of 20 volumes, plus 2 cents for mailing.


The objective of this book is to provide a short summary of the history of Spiritism with a sufficient explanation of the Doctrine of the Spirits in order to make its moral and philosophical consequences understood. Our intention is to make it reachable by ce. We count on the support of every Spiritist to help with its propagation.

Revelations from beyond the grave by Mrs. H. Dozon, evoking medium and Mr. H. Dozon, ex- officer of the Guard, Knight of the Legion of Honor. Large volume, 2.25 francs. Ledoyen edition; Galerie d’Orleans, 31, Palais Royal.


The work contains a collection of communications obtained by Mrs. Dozon, member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, during and after a painful disease that, as she says herself, would have abated her courage if she did not have maintained her faith in Spiritism and in the evident assistance of spiritual friends and guides who supported her in the most difficult times. Thus, the majority of the communications are markedly affected by the circumstances in which they were received. The obvious objective was to raise her low morale, something that was promptly achieved. Their character is essentially religious. The communications exhale the purest, soothing and reassuring moral. Some show remarkable elevation of thoughts. We regret the fact that, given the speed that the book was published, there wasn’t sufficient time to do the necessary corrections.


If the announced Library of the Inv ublished this work would have found an honorable position there.

To Mr. Allan Kardec, President of the Spiritist Society of Paris

“Dear Sir and honorable Spiritist chief,

I attach to this letter my private will in an envelope sealed with green wax indicating in that envelope what should be done after my death. From the moment I met you and understood the bottom line and objectives of Spiritism I made the decision of preparing my will. My intention was to have it done this winter, after my returning from the countryside.




In my leisure time and in the solitude of my refuge I could give serious thoughts to this, illuminated by the shining light of Spiritism, taking advantage of the teachings of the Spirits of the Lord, from all points of view, guiding me for the accomplishment of this task in the most useful way to my Earthly brothers, be it in the heart of my home, near or far from me, known or unknown, friends or foes, and in the most God pleasing way.




I remember the respectable Mr. Jobard from Brussels whose sudden death was announced by you and his profound and witty writings, in particular with respect to an inheritance of twenty million that he used to say he had been defrauded and that such a colossal fortune would have been a powerful lever to accelerate the advancement of the new era. Money that is often called and from a worldly stand point the nerve of war is in fact a terrifying instrument, powerful for good or bad, and I said to myself: “I can and I must dedicate a remarkable amount of my modest estate to support this new era, a heritage acquired for the accomplishment of my trials, with my own sweat and to the price of my health, from poverty, fatigue, study and work, and for over thirty years working as an attorney at law, in the busy days of office and hearings.




I read Lamennais’ letter again from November 1^st 1832 after his trip to Rome, sent to Countess Senfft, in which he expresses his disappointment after so much effort and struggles in his search for the truth, using these words that are if not prophetic at least inspired, by announcing the new era:”


(The text is followed by several citations that are omitted here for lack of space).


The envelope contains the following notice: “This enveloped sealed with green wax contains my personal will. The seal must be broken and the envelope open only after my death and in a general session of the Spiritist Society of Paris. The President of the day will read the entire will during that session. The seal shall be broken and the envelope open by the President. The envelope will be delivered to Mr. Allan Kardec, current President, who will have it deposited into the archives of the Society. An original of the same will shall be found in the office of Mrs. xxx; another original will be found at my house. The deposit made with Mr. Allan Kardec is mentioned in the other originals.”


After communicating the fact to the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies on November 20^th, 1861, the President, Mr. Allan Kardec thanked the generous intentions of the will in favor of Spiritism, congratulating the person by the way he understood its objectives and reach.


Although the author of the letter had not requested privacy in case it was considered adequate to have the name published, we underst respect the privacy, given the circumstances and the issue at hand.

Certain strange phenomena produced by Ms. Godu have been commented lately, phenomena that would consist on the production of diamonds and precious stones through strange means. Mr. Mohéry personally sent us a long and descriptive letter about it and some people were surprised that we made no comment about it. The reason for that is the fact that we never accept a given assertion just out of pure enthusiasm. Before accepting we examine things cold-bloodedly since experience teaches us how much we must suspect certain illusions.


Had we published all the wonders that were reported to us in more or less good faith, without a proper examination, our Review might have become perhaps more enjoyable but we must preserve the serious character that the Review has always had. With respect to the new and prodigious faculty that would have been revealed with Ms. Godu, we frankly believe that the healing medium was more precious and useful to humanity and also to the propagation of Spiritism. However, we deny nothing and those who think that with such news we would rush to take the train to check the facts we respond that if something is true it shall not avoid official confirmation. It will then be the time to speak and we have no problem with being the first to proclaim it. Here is a summary of the answer that we sent to Mr. Mohéry:


“…It is true that I did not publish all the reports that you sent me about the cures operated by Ms. Godu but I said enough in order to call attention to her work. Constantly speaking about the case would give the impression that I serve particular interests. Wisdom advised the wait to have the future confirming the past. As for the phenomena that you describe in your latest letter those are so strange that I did not venture into publishing them but when I have your undeniable confirmation. The more abnormal a fact is the more caution it requires. You must not be surprised by seeing too much of that in such cases. This is also the advice from the Committee of the Society to whom I submitted your letter. The unanimous decision was to wait for the developments before we speak about it. Up until now the fact is so much contrary to any natural laws and even all known laws of Spiritism that the first feeling that it entails is that of disbelief, even among Spiritists. Speaking about it in anticipation and before being able to support them with authentic proofs would be a useless call for mockery.”


NOTE: We are postponing to the next issue the publication of several evocations and Spiritist dissertations of great interest.

Allan Kardec